Mr. Niall Egan:

The Chairman stated the deprivation rate had increased over the past six years. While that is correct with regard to older people, the most recent SILC statistics show that poverty has fallen for the past five years. We know that deprivation is a subset within that but overall, in how it is measured, consistent poverty levels have fallen over the past five years. It is very unfortunate that the most recent figures have shown an increase. The Department is concerned about that, as I said in the opening statement. We have a significant role to play in alleviating that and in targeting measures to support people in future.

On the question about urban and rural categorisation, we can split our payments on a county basis. We have that information and we can provide it to the committee should it so wish. I point to recent findings and research on the minimum essential standard of living, MESL, which is done by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice and funded by the Department. Historically, that has always found a differential - it costs more to live in rural Ireland than urban Ireland - but the most recent MESL research, largely driven by the cost of gas compared with oil costs, has found that urban costs, for the first time that I can recall, are higher.

There are things happening. This also ties into some of the figures we have seen on keeping homes adequately warm. We are starting to see increases in fuel costs coming through, particularly in 2022, following the Ukrainian war when there was a sudden spike in gas prices, which remain high. This has had a significant impact on households that would not otherwise have had that difficulty.